1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to safety devices for vehicles and, in particular, to a side-view mirror assembly for a vehicle in the form of a single shell, dual view, side-view mirror.
2. Related Art
Side-view mirrors for large vehicles such as school buses, transit buses and trucks present special design challenges. Specifically, because of the height and size of the vehicles, it is necessary to provide an ample viewing area for a long distance along the side of the vehicle, as well as a view which is directed more toward the ground. Conventionally, separate mirror elements have been provided for these diverse viewing requirements. For example, one mirror element has been traditionally mounted to provide a unique field of view by way of a large flat mirror surface and another mirror element has been provided with a convex surface to provide a wider field of view.
These prior art mirror elements, while serving their intended functions, exhibit several problems. First, since the flat mirror surface is traditionally substantially larger than the convex mirror surface, undesirable duplication in inventory, tooling, assembly and associated increases in cost and complexity result. Further, conventional mirror elements are unable to receive a flat mirror and/or a convex mirror during manufacture, field retrofit or repair. This too results in undesirable duplication in inventory, tooling, assembly and associated increases in cost and complexity.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved side-view mirror which employs at least two mirror elements each having a mirror of substantially the same size and/or where each mirror element is capable of receiving either a flat or convex mirror.
In order to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, the vehicular side-view mirror assembly of the present invention includes a mounting unit having a substantially planar face plate defined by first and second spaced apart peripheral edges and third and fourth spaced apart peripheral edges, adjacent peripheral edges defining corners; first, second, third, and fourth sides disposed at respective peripheral edges of the face plate, the face plate and sides defining a frame for receiving either a flat or convex mirror; and one or more apertures disposed at one or more of the corners of the face plate, the apertures being sized and shaped such that a convex mirror may be received within the frame and edges thereof may be received at least partially within the apertures.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicular side-view mirror includes a shell housing being engageable with a vehicle; first and second mounting units coupled to the shell housing, each mounting unit including a substantially planar face plate defined by first and second spaced apart peripheral edges and third and fourth spaced apart peripheral edges, each mounting unit further including first, second, third, and fourth sides disposed at respective peripheral edges of the face plate, the face plate and sides defining a frame for receiving a mirror, wherein the respective distances between the respective first and second sides of the mounting units define two heights and the respective distances between the third and fourth sides of the mounting units define two widths, the two heights being substantially the same and the two widths being substantially the same.
The foregoing and numerous other features and advantages of the invention are realized with a mirror assembly which is described below by reference to the drawings and detailed description which follows.